Board game apparatus

ABSTRACT

In a board-type game apparatus including a gameboard having a playing surface with a plurality of playing stations deffining at least one path of travel over the playing surface, a plurality of playing pieces positionable on the gameboard and movable over the playing surface along the path of travel, and dice for determining the movement of the playing pieces. A box-like structure is positioned on the gameboard and has upper and lower levels defining a holding station and a receiving area, respectively, for the playing pieces. A trap door is provided in the upper level, or holding station, on which playing pieces are positionable. A manually manipulatable randomly operable release mechanism, including a spinner device, is operatively associated with the trap door to drop playing pieces from holding positions on top of the trap door, at the holding station, through the trap door to the subjacent receiving area which may define a penalty area, for instance a &#39;&#39;&#39;&#39;jail&#39;&#39;&#39;&#39;.

United States Patent Breslow et al.

[ Mar. 18, 1975 1 1 BOARD GAME APPARATUS [75] Inventors: Jeffrey D. Breslow, Highland Park; Gordon A. Barlow, Skokie; Joseph M. Burch, Chicago; Howard .1. Morrison, Deerfield, all of 111.

[73] Assignee: Marvin Glass & Associates,

Chicago, Ill.

[22] Filed: May 9, 1974 [21] Appl. No.: 468,516

[52] US. CL... 273/134 AD, 273/134 B, 273/134 D, 273/134 E, 273/134 G, 273/138 R Primary Examiner-Delbert B. Lowe Attorney, Agent, or Firm-Coffee & Sweeney [57] ABSTRACT In a board-type game apparatus including a gameboard having a playing surface with a plurality of playing stations deffining at least one path of travel over the playing surface, a plurality of playing pieces positionable on the gameboard and movable over the playing surface along the path of travel, and dice for determining the movement of the playing pieces. A box-like structure is positioned on the gameboard and has upper and lower levels defining a holding station and a receiving area, respectively, for the playing pieces. A trap door is provided in the upper level, or holding station, on which playing pieces are positionable. A manually manipulatable randomly operable release mechanism, including a spinner device, is operatively associated with the trap door to drop playing pieces from holding positions on top of the trap door, at the holding station, through the trap door to the subjacent receiving area which may define a penalty area, for instance a jail.

11 Claims, 4 Drawing Figures 1 BOARD GAME APPARATUS BACKGROUND AND SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to board games, and particularly to a novel operating mechanism for use in combination with a gameboard.

An object of the present invention is to provide a new and entertaining board game involving considerable competition between the players in that the players not only are permitted to move their own playing pieces about the game-board, but are permitted to move an opposing players playing pieces to a holding station whereat the pieces temporarily are held for possible movement to a receiving area whereat the playing pieces are removed from play.

More particularly, a box-like structure is provided on the gameboard and has an upper level and a lower level defining a holding station and a receiving area, respectively, for the playing pieces. A trap door is provided in the upper level, or holding station, on which playing pieces are positionable. A manually manipulatable randomly operable release mechanism, including a spinner device, is operatively associated with the trap door to drop playing pieces from holding positions on top of the trap door, at the holding station, through the trap door to the subjacent receiving area which may define a penalty area, for instance such as a jail.

DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a board-type game apparatus embodying the concepts of the present inventlon;

FIG. 2 is a fragmented top plan view, on an enlarged scale, of the jail portion of the game apparatus, with a portion of the playing surface broken away to illustrate the random spinner mechanism;

FIG. 3 is a vertical section taken generally along the line 33 of FIG. 2; and

FIG. 4 is a vertical section in front of the card portion and through the base portion of a playing piece.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT Turning to the drawings in greater detail, the boardtype game apparatus of the present invention generally includes a box-like gameboard, generally designated 12, having vertical side walls 14 for positioning a generally flat playing surface 16 elevated above a subjacent supporting surface, such as a table top or the like. A plurality of stations 18 are defined on the playing surface 16 and define a plurality of paths of travel for a plurality of playing pieces 19 which are movable over the playing surface 16 along the paths of travel defined by the stations 18.

Before proceeding further, it should be pointed out that certain of the stations identified as stations 18a are color-coded, as will be described hereinafter. Certain other of the stations, designated 18b, are identified as captured" stations. The captured stations 18b are disposed at the four corners of a three-dimensional boxlike structure or jail, generally designated 20, which defines a holding station and/or receiving area for'the playing pieces, as described hereinafter. Still other positions are defined by stations 22 which are provided as home stations or areas for purposes described hereinafter.

A pair of dice 24 are provided for randomly determining the movement of the playing pieces according to the dictates of the game.

Each playing piece 19 is defined by a flat card-like structure having a figure thereon, such as a simulated man 26 (FIG. 4). The card-like playing pieces 19 are positioned in slots 28 in the top of disc-like base portions 30 which hold the cards in the erect position shown in FIGS. 1 and 4, and for facilitating movement of the playing pieces about the playing surface.

Turning now to the structure 20 which is disposed in the center of the gameboard 12, this structure generally is boxshaped and, in the form of the invention shown herein, is structured to simulate a jail, or the like. The

jail is shown in plan and sectional views in FIGS. 2

- 20 has a pair of trap doors 38 which are pivotally mounted within the four side walls 32 by means of pivot pins 40 extending through complementary apertures in the appropriate opposite side walls 32, as shown. When in their normal raised or holding condition, the trap doors have their free swinging edges adjacent each other, generally as shown by the line 42 in FIGS. 1 and 2. The trap doors 38, when in their raised or holding condition, define an upper holding station for playing pieces disposed on top thereof, above the receiving area within the bottom of the box-like jail 20. FlG. 1 shows the trap doors in their closed position with three playing pieces 19 thereon. Apertures 43 also are formed in the trap doors 38, but not sufficiently large for the passage of a playing piece: therethrough.

A release or trip mechanism, generally designated 44, (FIGS. 2 and 3), is provided to hold the trap doors 38 in their normal raised or closed condition, as well as for releasing the trap doors to permit playing pieces 19 disposed thereon to fall into the receiving area defined by the inside of the box-like jail 20. More particularly, the release or trip mechanism 44 includes a lever member 46 pivotally mounted to the outside of one of the side walls 32, as at 48, beneath the elevated playing surface 16. An inwardly directed tongue portion 50 is disposed at the top of the lever 46 and is positionable through a cutout 52 in the adjacent side wall 32 into position beneath the trap doors 38 (as seen in FIGS. 2 and 3), to hold the trap doors II'll their raised holding condition. An outwardly directedl lip 54 is formed on the lower end of the lever 46 and protrudes outwardly from the pivot 48, whereby pressure on top of the lip 54 in the direction of arrow A (FIG. 3) will cause the lever 46 to pivot in the direction of arrow B (FIG. 3) and move the tongue 50 out from beneath the trap doors and permit the trap doors to fall downwardly about pivot pins 40 and drop any playing pieces 19 disposed on the trap doors into the receiving area within the jail 20.

A manually manipulatable randomly operable actuating means, generally designated 56, is functional through the lever 46 to open the trap doors 38 only during certain actuations of the actuating means, as determined by the random operation thereof. More particularly, the actuating means is in the form of a spinner having an upwardly directed plunger or shaft 58 freely rotatable within a boss 60 within the gameboard 12 beneath the playing surface 16. The boss 60 is formed on an extension 62 of the bottom wall 34 of the box-like jail 20. The bottom of the shaft 58 is journalled in a recess 64 in the boss 60, and the shaft 58 is pointed, as at 66, to facilitate free rotation thereof about a vertical axis. A plunger-type sleeve 68 is disposed over the shaft 58 for vertical reciprocation in relation thereto. A coil spring 70 is disposed within the sleeve 68 on top ofthe shaft 58 to normally bias the sleeve to an upper position as shown in FIG. 3. A plurality of spokes 72 are formed at the bottom of the sleeve 68 and protrude radially outwardly therefrom. As best seen in FIG. 2, adjacent spokes 72 are angularly spaced relative to each other a distance wider than the width of the lip 54 at the bottom of the lever 46. In this manner, the sleeve 68 and shaft 58 can be rotated about a vertical axis, for instance in the direction of arrow C (FIG. 2), in a spinning fashion to bring either a spoke 72 or a space between adjacent spokes into vertical registry with the lip 54. Thus, by depressing the sleeve 68 in the direction of arrow D (FIG. 3), against the force of coil spring 70, should a spoke 72 be in vertical registry above the lip 54, the lip will be depressed in the direction of arrow A (FIG. 3) and rotate the lever 46 in the direction of arrow B to open the trap doors 38. Should the lip 54 be disposed completely within the spacing between a pair of adjacent spokes 72, the mechanism will be ineffective to open the trap doors. Thus, the mechanism is randomly operated by a spinning mechanism, and, in addition, is completely concealed from view of the players since the spokes 72 and lip 54 are disposed beneath the playing surface 16. The top of sleeve 68 can be seen in FIG. 1.

In order to reset the trap doors 38, tabs 78 are provided for manual manipulation to raise the trap doors while repositioning the lever 46.

With the structure as above described, one scheme of playing the game of the present invention is based on the object of being the last player to have a surviving playing piece 19 on the gameboard. To prepare the game apparatus for play, the gameboard is assembled with the box-like jail structure 20 positioned within a recess 80 (FIG. 3) in the elevated playing surface 16. Each player receives a set of playing pieces 19 which are color or otherwise matched for each set. In the illustrated embodiment, the gameboard is designed for four players, with each player having four playing pieces of matching color. Each players playing pieces all are positioned in a respective one of the home stations or areas 22.

At this point it should be pointed out that the stations 18 on the playing surface 16 are arranged so as to have a somewhat continuous path about the four edges of the gameboard, but with alternate semi-circular paths at each corner of the playing surface leading up to and away from the captured stations 18b. In addition, on opposite sides of each of the home stations 22 are four color-coded stations 18a. One of each of the four clusters of color-coded stations coincides with one of the four colored sets of playing pieces.

To start play, each player may roll one of the dice 24, with the high man, for instance, starting play by moving one of his playing pieces from the home station 22 onto the path of travel defined by the various stations, equal to the count of his die. The player to the left, for instance, may play next and roll both dice. That player moves one of his own playing pieces the count of one of the dice, and moves any other opponent's playing piece the count of the other die. Play is continued in this manner. The strategy, generally, is to move any other players playing piece into a position of danger, while attempting to keep one's own playing pieces in positions of safety.

More particularly, a player may move his own playing piece into a position of safety by moving the playing piece the exact count of a die onto the respectively colored station (18a) matching the color of his playing piece. A playing piece on that safe station 18a may not be moved by an opposing player. Of course, the home stations or areas 22 also are positions of safety.

When a player moves an opponents playing piece onto one of the captured stations 18b by an exact count of a die, the captured playing piece immediately is placed on the holding station of the jail 20 defined by the top of the trap doors 38. The spinner type manually manipulatable random actuating means 56 then is rotated and depressed, as described above. If the spinner spokes -72 release the trap doors 38, the captured playing piece is removed from play by dropping into the receiving area within the jail, along with any other captured playing pieces which also may have been positioned on top of the trap doors. If the trap doors are not opened, the captured playing pieces still have the possibility of escape.

In order to escape the holding station on top of the trap doors 38, various schemes can be provided. For instance, a double roll of the dice would permit a player to remove his respective playing pieces from the top of the trap doors. In addition, various stations may be provided for similar purposes. For instance, should a player bring his own playing piece to a captured station 18b, he could be permitted to remove one or more of his playing pieces from on top of the trap doors to his respective home station 22. Thus, only when a player moves an opponents playing piece to a captured station 18b would that playing piece be removed to the top of the trap doors.

With the scheme as devised above, the player having the last surviving moving playing piece would be declared the winner of the game. It also might be pointed out that to enhance the playability and excitement of the game, the players may be permitted to move their playing pieces in either direction about the playing stations as they leave their respective home stations 22, as well as either side of the circular paths at the corners of the playing surface.

Of course, other schemes and methods of playing the game are contemplated by the present invention.

The foregoing detailed description has been given for clearness of understanding only and no unnecessary limitations should be understood therefrom as some modifications will be obvious to those skilled in the art.

We claim:

1. In a board-type game apparatus including a gameboard having a playing surface with a plurality of stations defining at least one path of travel, a plurality of playing pieces positionable on said gameboard and movable over the playing surface along said path of travel, and means for determining the movement of the playing pieces, the improvement comprising: means defining a holding station on the gameboard at which at least one playing piece is positionable, means defining a receiving area for receiving at least one playing piece, and manually manipulatable randomly operable actuating means operatively associated between said holding station and said receiving area for moving a playing piece therebetween only during certain actuations of the actuating means as determined by the random operation thereof.

2. The game apparatus of claim 1 wherein said holding station is disposed at an elevated position over said gameboard with said receiving area therebeneath, said actuating means being operable to move a playing piece downwardly from the holding station to the receiving area.

3. The game apparatus of claim 2 wherein said holding station includes trap door means on which at least one playing piece is positionable, said randomly operable actuating means being operable to release the trap door means to drop a playing piece from on top thereof to the receiving area, the receiving area being disposed subjacent the trap door means.

4. The game apparatus of claim 3 wherein said holding station and said receiving area are defined by upper and lower levels, respectively, of a box-like structure on said gameboard, with said randomly operable actuating means disposed adjacent the box-like structure.

5. The game apparatus of claim 4 wherein said randomly operable actuating means includes a release mechanism operatively associated with said trap door means normally holding the trap door means in a closed condition, and a spinner device manually rotatable by a player of the game, the spinner device having random portions thereof movable into engagement with said release mechanism to open the trap door means.

6. The game apparatus of claim 5 wherein said spinner device includes a plurality of spokes movable into position relative to said release mechanism to randomly operate the release mechanism depending upon whether or not a spoke is in position for engaging the release mechanism.

7.'The game apparatus of claim I wherein at least one of said stations includes indicia means for determining when a playing piece is to be moved to said holding station, according to predetermined dictates of the game.

8. The game apparatus of claim 1 wherein at least one of said stations includes indicia for determining when a player of the game is to manually manipulate said actuating means according to predetermined dictates of the game.

9. For use in a board-type game apparatus including a gameboard and at least one playing piece, a box-like structure positionable on the gameboard, said box-like structure having an upper level and a subjacent lower level defining a holding station and a receiving area, respectively, for a playing piece, means defining trap door means at the holding station on which a playing piece is positionable,.a release mechanism normally holding the trap door means in closed condition and for releasing the trap door means to drop a playing piece from said holding station to said receiving area, and manually manipulatable randomly operable actuating means operatively associated with said release mechanism for opening said trap door means only during certain actuations of the actuating means as determined by the random operation thereof.

10. The invention of claim 9 wherein said randomly operable actuating means includes a spinner device manually rotatable by a player of the game, the spinner device having random portions thereof movable into engagement with said release mechanism to open the trap door means.

11. The invention of claim 10 wherein said spinner device includes a plurality of spokes movable into position relative to said release mechanism to randomly operate the release mechanism depending upon whether or not a spoke is in position for engaging the release 

1. In a board-type game apparatus including a gameboard having a playing surface with a plurality of stations defining at least one path of travel, a plurality of playing pieces positionable on said gameboard and movable over the playing surface along said path of travel, and means for determining the movement of the playing pieces, the improvement comprising: means defining a holding station on the gameboard at which at least one playing piece is positionable, means defining a receiving area for receiving at least one playing piece, and manually manipulatable randomly operable actuating means operatively associated between said holding station and said receiving area for moving a playing piece therebetween only during certain actuations of the actuating means as determined by the random operation thereof.
 2. The game apparatus of claim 1 wherein said holding station is disposed at an elevated position over said gameboard with said receiving area therebeneath, said actuating means being operable to move a playing piece downwardly from the holding stAtion to the receiving area.
 3. The game apparatus of claim 2 wherein said holding station includes trap door means on which at least one playing piece is positionable, said randomly operable actuating means being operable to release the trap door means to drop a playing piece from on top thereof to the receiving area, the receiving area being disposed subjacent the trap door means.
 4. The game apparatus of claim 3 wherein said holding station and said receiving area are defined by upper and lower levels, respectively, of a box-like structure on said gameboard, with said randomly operable actuating means disposed adjacent the box-like structure.
 5. The game apparatus of claim 4 wherein said randomly operable actuating means includes a release mechanism operatively associated with said trap door means normally holding the trap door means in a closed condition, and a spinner device manually rotatable by a player of the game, the spinner device having random portions thereof movable into engagement with said release mechanism to open the trap door means.
 6. The game apparatus of claim 5 wherein said spinner device includes a plurality of spokes movable into position relative to said release mechanism to randomly operate the release mechanism depending upon whether or not a spoke is in position for engaging the release mechanism.
 7. The game apparatus of claim 1 wherein at least one of said stations includes indicia means for determining when a playing piece is to be moved to said holding station, according to predetermined dictates of the game.
 8. The game apparatus of claim 1 wherein at least one of said stations includes indicia for determining when a player of the game is to manually manipulate said actuating means according to predetermined dictates of the game.
 9. For use in a board-type game apparatus including a gameboard and at least one playing piece, a box-like structure positionable on the gameboard, said box-like structure having an upper level and a subjacent lower level defining a holding station and a receiving area, respectively, for a playing piece, means defining trap door means at the holding station on which a playing piece is positionable, a release mechanism normally holding the trap door means in closed condition and for releasing the trap door means to drop a playing piece from said holding station to said receiving area, and manually manipulatable randomly operable actuating means operatively associated with said release mechanism for opening said trap door means only during certain actuations of the actuating means as determined by the random operation thereof.
 10. The invention of claim 9 wherein said randomly operable actuating means includes a spinner device manually rotatable by a player of the game, the spinner device having random portions thereof movable into engagement with said release mechanism to open the trap door means.
 11. The invention of claim 10 wherein said spinner device includes a plurality of spokes movable into position relative to said release mechanism to randomly operate the release mechanism depending upon whether or not a spoke is in position for engaging the release mechanism. 